A Couple of Aces
by Azekthi
Summary: Louise Grenze was a newbie pilot when the Belkan War had broken out, but her passion and natural skill were going to have to be enough to carry her through the bloodiest conflict in modern Strangereal history. Now if only she could wipe the smirk off of her wingman. My first Ace Combat fanfic asks, what if Cipher was female and had a backstory and personality? Hope you enjoy it!
1. Chapter 1

This is my very first _Ace Combat_ fanfic, as well as my first post on FF! I hope you guys enjoy it!

The cover art is credited to anantaviper. Obviously, everything else belongs to Project Aces and Bandai Namco.

* * *

A flip of _Ustio Monthly_. A swig of the hot rum-no wait, the bottle's empty. _Damn it_, Pixy thought as he threw it at the wall, shattering it into pieces and echoing the impact throughout the mess hall, empty save for the solo mercenary.

_I don't even have that much money to buy another case. Damn it all, why can't they give me another contract already-_

Just at that point, the air raid sirens started blaring throughout the base. Pixy stood up and ran for the briefing room, itching for some action. It had been an entire week and Valais hadn't seen any action. Finally, the mercenary would get some more money.

When he opened the doors to the briefing room, he was surprised to see a couple of new faces along with the regulars. There were about five pilots total in the room.

"Listen up! We have a situation on our hands."

"You don't say?" Pixy asked as he grabbed a chair, swung it around backwards, and sat down. The air raid sirens were still blaring, but they weren't as loud in this room as in the mess hall.

Ignoring him, the briefing officer went on. "A major squadron of Belkan bombers has crossed our border and is making its way here, to Valais Air Base."

Pixy's eyes scanned over the room. The briefing screens showed their main target: B-52 Stratofortress bombers. He was aware of their design at this point, seeing as how he was involved in similar defense operations earlier in the war.

The Stratos were slow, but packed a punch; their payload was heavy, and they had rear-mounted Vulcans that could seriously jeopardize a pilot's usual safety point directly behind a bomber. Pixy, of all people, should know that risk better than anyone. It also looked like a secondary target would be Bm-335 Lindwurms. Pixy was a little surprised; these things were decades old. Looks like Belka was just using their old reserves for this base they likely believed wouldn't be a threat. Pfft. We'll see.

As the briefing officer went on about Valais being Ustio's last stronghold, he scanned over the mercenaries once more. One of them stood out. He was definitely one of the new ones, because that hairstyle was totally unfamiliar. The uniform was a little odd, too. But he couldn't get too clear of a view from behind Mac's fat head.

The briefing officer dismissed them, and as all of the pilots stood up, Pixy's mouth dropped. _She's a she?!_

"Larry Foulke, get up and get to your F-15!" barked the briefing officer.

Pixy smirked and got up, leaving the chair as it was and running to Hangar 3, where his baby was. Hopefully that "she" would be paired with him. The only women he flew with weren't in a cockpit, so this would be interesting as hell.

* * *

"It's starting to come down..."

"This is Base Command. Guess all you boys managed to get up. Galm 1, Galm 2, maintain present course."

"This is Galm 2, roger that," Pixy replied. Just a few minutes ago, they had confirmed callsigns, and Base Command assigned the "she" - well, apparently her name was Cipher (_what a strange female name_, Pixy thought, _but then again, Pixy isn't exactly masculine_) - as his flight leader. Galm 1 - the "real" Galm 1 - was shot down in Pixy's second operation with the man. He refused the promotion and stayed as Galm 2. He never was one for leading.

But now... maybe he was never one for leading, but he sure as hell wasn't one for being led by a female. _We'll see how long she lasts._

"Bearing 315, Belkan bombers approaching."

For the first time since seeing her, Pixy spoke to Cipher. "Nobody wants to bail out in a mountain of ice. We're counting on you, flight leader."

She didn't respond. _Silent type, huh? I can dig that. At least I won't be led around like a damn puppy._

"All units, prepare to intercept."

"You'd better have our pay ready and waiting." Pixy was shocked; those words didn't come from his mouth. Alright, maybe he'd like her after all.

"That's if we all make it through this alive."

"Be ready to pay up," Pixy replied. "We'll be back before you know it."

At that point, they entered the combat perimeter and spotted the Stratofortress/Lindwurm squadron to their left, exactly at the reported heading. Pixy and Cipher yawed their aircraft left, ready to attack them head-on.

"Galm 2, follow all orders from Galm 1. Free engagement is prohibited during this operation."

_Shit, Base Command, you don't say?_ "Roger that. Awaiting your orders, Cipher. You're Galm 1 now."

"Galm 2, requesting you fly cover on my tail."

"Roger that." _I'd cover your tail any day._ Pixy tilted his aircraft and let go of the throttle a teensy bit, to lag behind Cipher a bit and defend her from any escorts that may be flying with the bombers.

The bombers were now within firing range. Two were flying in Pixy and Cipher's direction, standing alone and sputtering along the path to Valais. Cipher switched to his auxiliary weapons - AIM-120 AMRAAMs - and fired off two missiles, one going to each bomber. They both connected, causing two fireballs to replace the two bombers.

"Two enemy bombers down. Continue with the operation, and stay sharp out there!"

Darryl decided to rear his ugly butt into the radio chatter. "Let's mop 'em up quick and go out for a little hot rum."

Pixy would have agreed to that, but he just got radar signatures on a few more bombers, escorted by about five to ten escorts. He decided to egg on his teammates. "All those too scared to fly should go back to base and wait patiently with their tail between their legs."

"Looks like Galm 2 is gonna steal the show again."

"Mac, I don't have time for that. It's every man for himself."

"Fox Three, Fox Three!"

Pixy looked to his flight lead as she announced a volley of AMRAAMs. All four of them made good hits; two on bombers, two on escorts. But a couple more escorts were turning to lock onto her, while she was setting up to fly behind the bombers with her standard missiles.

_Nah, I won't warn her._ "Galm 2, providing backup to Galm 1. I've got the escorts, you take care of the bombers."

"Roger that. Fox Two!"

"Fox Two!" Pixy shouted as he launched his own missiles. Cipher seemed to have missed her shots, but Pixy's were a direct hit and the escort he was targeting went down.

"One of the bombers has left the battlefront. He must've chickened out."

Pixy noticed that Darryl was right. One of them - a Lindwurm - was withdrawing from the combat airspace. "Why would he leave after getting this far?" His instinct was to go after it and shoot it down, but he wasn't allowed to free-engage, and Cipher didn't seem to worry. Against his better judgment, and against the better pay he'd have received later, he let the bomber go.

Within a couple of more minutes, Cipher (with a couple of fire support shots from Pixy) had shot down all of the bombers. The escorts, some damaged and some still pristine, decided to return to their base along with the one bomber. Pixy was surprised to see Cipher letting them go as well. Even Mac was going for them until he was at low fuel.

He was equally as surprised to see that Cipher had already seemed to know about the Stratofortresses and Lindwurms and their respective capabilities. She was dodging the backwards cannons fairly decently. _She... she has potential_, he thought as they landed at Valais.

* * *

"Thanks to you, Belka's attack on Valais Air Base has failed. Your efforts will not go unrewarded. Your actions may well decide who wins the Belkan War. I, for one, will be counting on you. Dismissed."

Pixy mentally groaned. They were mercenaries. The last thing they needed was patronizing from the debriefing officer, of all people. All he wanted was the paycheck, which apparently wasn't coming today. Hopefully by Wednesday.

He noticed that Cipher, unlike the other pilots, wasn't going to the mess hall. She was heading towards her bunk. He decided to hang back a little, and then follow her, at least to strike up conversation. If she was going to be his flight lead, they'd need to talk a bit more than this. Pixy did prefer the lone-wolf tactic when in the sky, but from what it looks like, Command would rather they all stick together. For the sake of not getting fired from his contract, he'd have to comply with that, but so would Cipher.

He heard her door close down the hall, an amazement since the pilots were getting riled up just a few doors behind Pixy and shouting about who shot down which Belkan plane. Pixy went for a slow jog, but put on his famous smirk and walked into Cipher's room unannounced.

If she had heard him enter, she didn't give any indication. She was sitting on her desk, reading a book that Pixy couldn't make out the title of from the doorway. He smirked a little wider, and, with speed, made his way over to her and put his fist on the wall, hoping to startle her in a cute-borderline-sexy manner when she looked up and saw his eyes staring down into hers.

Instead, what Pixy got was the sound of a book slamming closed onto a table and the cock of a gun being pointed at his neck as Cipher whispered, "Give me a reason."

"If you didn't, you'd have to fly solo."

"Maybe I wouldn't be slowed down, then."

Now Pixy got a little mad. This wasn't the first gun to his head, but he never took insults to his flying abilities lightly - no ace would. "Slowed down? If I recall, you gave me orders to cover your pretty ass, and I did."

"Yeah. Cover my 'pretty' ass. Not waste time staring at an injured unit, wishing you could shoot it down for a free kill."

Suddenly it made sense to him. "Oh, I see... you're one of those knightly types. The ones who let the innocents and the injured go, regardless of how much money you'd make."

"This isn't about money, _Pixy_. I want my homeland back, but I'm not willing to kill people that don't need to be. Take off, complete the mission, and land, nothing more."

"That kind of attitude doesn't fly well around here."

Cipher brought the pistol closer to Pixy, to the point where it was touching the stubble of hair on his chin. "I'm your flight lead. So you'll have to deal with my attitude."

"That mean you not gonna shoot me?"

"Not today. But the next time you just walk into my room without caring to even knock, we'll see how I fare flying solo."

Pixy smirked once again, and started walking backwards as Cipher put her gun down. Pixy turned around and walked into the doorway as she picked up her book, but before he closed the door he muttered something back to her.

"Cipher, I got a feeling you and me are gonna get along just fine." He turned around to look at her raised face, which was unreadable. "Buddy."


	2. Chapter 2

There was a thud as the book closed.

_Pixy is extremely... odd. Pretty good wingman in the air, but as a person, definitely odd._

The pilot stood up off her desk and walked over to the bed, slowly and almost dramatically falling onto her bed face-first.

This was tough. Pixy was, what... 26? 27? And he already had a reputation. Cipher didn't have anything. Or, well, barely anything. She was only 24, and a member of the Ustio Air Force for one single year.

Before joining the Galm Team, she had only flown against the Belkans in one engagement after the war's start a week ago. They were engaged with a bomber formation that was en route to Directus on March 27, two days after Belka declared war through their blitzkrieg method. The Ustio Air Force lost a lot of good men that day. Cipher knew that Pixy and the previous Galm 1 were also in that engagement... and Galm 1 was one of the best there.

She hadn't intended to replace his position, but the fact that the UAF hadn't given her another order after the 27th was enough for her to quit and go mercenary. They begged for her back, but since she was a merc she'd have less hoops to jump through for more engagements.

She quickly learned that not all of the other mercs left for the same reasons she did. Sure, she wanted more opportunities to do battle, but not for money.

Directus was her home. Her parents' home. They weren't killed (as far as she knew). And she wasn't going to give it up so quickly.

Or at least, she didn't want to. It's as good as dead to her with Belka in control of it again.

Hopefully they'll actually do something this time.

* * *

Or not.

Well, at least it could be worse.

It took two weeks after the attempted destruction of Valais Air Base for the Galm Team to be called on again. And it wasn't a major victory, either. All the Allied Forces wanted was some sort of supply route in Arlon to start sending supplies from Osea to Ustio. Specifically, they would go to Valais Air Base, since it's _still_ the only base in Ustio under Allied control.

Cipher was having trouble keeping her radar lock off of the unknown targets on the ground. There were houses and windmills in the area, but the Allied Forces couldn't confirm if they were hostile or not, so the mercs were given free discretion to destroy them if they wished. Of course, Cipher knew it was a mistake to destroy any of them, but after two weeks of no action, she was ashamed to admit that she had destroyed a couple of windmills.

_Never again_, she promised herself after the debriefing. _I don't know who lived there..._

* * *

But let's fast-forward a few days later. Arlon was a pushover in retrospect, but their next engagement – which, thankfully, was not two weeks later but rather a few days – was going to be interesting.

"Head Operations has issued an emergency order for a reconnaissance mission to be conducted near the border. You will be monitoring the airspace B7R, currently under Belkan control."

Cipher droned out the rest of the briefing officer's speech when she heard B7R. It was an airspace in northern Ustio which crossed into southern Belka. It was mineral-rich, which was the whole reason Belka invaded the country to start with. Pilots took it as a "free-for-all" zone. It was a stage that they performed on, where ranks and affiliations didn't hinder any of them. The only rule abided by in B7R was to survive.

Exactly why the Allied Forces wanted the Galm Team to go into B7R was beyond Cipher's mind. She, personally, had never been there, and the idea of going to B7R with her little flight experience was daunting. She looked over to Pixy (and, with disgust, turned right back around when she saw that he was staring at her with his usual smirk) and wondered if he had ever flown in B7R.

Even stranger, though, was that she just realized that none of the other mercenaries were in the room. Was this a mission for just them? Why?

* * *

Pixy huffed into his pilot's helmet. He and Cipher were 10,000 feet over the mountainous terrain of the former Ustio/Belka border (you know, before Belka pushed that border all the way to Valais Air Base).

No, Pixy's never been to B7R. And while he would never show it to Cipher or anyone else, the famous Solo Wing Pixy was, for once, _scared_. B7R wasn't a place for two pilots who hadn't had that much combat experience. What were they doing there?

"Galm Team. This is Eagle Eye. Penetrate B7R and get a feel for the surroundings."

Oh, to get a feel for the surroundings. Right. Well, might as well keep the tough façade going; not like a girl needs to hear him get soft all of a sudden. "Galm 2, roger. This kind of job is what we're all about. Ain't that right, flight lead?"

"Yeah. Who needs support; we can fly this recon all on our own."

Pixy chuckled to himself. Cipher's voice was a little shaky. _She's worried too_, he thought to himself.

Pixy sat back in his seat, looking around the cockpit of his F-15C Eagle. It was one of the last planes that the Ustio Air Force had left (Cipher probably got the last Eagle), but after Pixy's freak stunt where he lost his right wing, he got the wing repaired and painted it red rather than keeping the standard Ustio paint scheme of two blue wings. Otherwise, the plane was stock as all Ustio Eagles, but Pixy enjoyed it. It was quaint, rather than the cockpits of some of the advanced aircraft that he had caught glimpses of over the past couple of years.

While Pixy's mind was veering further and further off-course from where it should have stayed, he thought about his buddy and her flight experience. He hadn't heard the callsign "Cipher" come up in battle before, or at least couldn't remember it. How much had she flown?

"Enemies on radar. Exercise caution."

Eagle Eye's voice jolted Pixy to the present day. He flipped his radar to long-range, and, indeed, there were eight bandits transmitting a Belkan IFF squawk.

"Dammit!" the pilot shouted. The Belkan pilots were positioned over the peaks of the mountain, right where the border used to be, as well as where the most plane wrecks can be found. They were in four groups of two.

"Is something wrong with the IFF? Only two enemy planes are showing up on radar."

"Don't they know about the Round Table?"

Before Pixy could pick up his radio, Cipher beat him to it. "Galm 1 to Galm 2. Are you picking up the enemy radio chatter as well?"

Pixy was surprised as well. Do pilots typically use the open broadcast channel at B7R? "Galm 2, roger. It seems they're on to us. Sounds like they're not surprised to see us, but that we don't have more backup."

* * *

Cipher looked at her radar. She and Pixy were about 50 miles southeast from the mountain peaks, but the Belkan pilots decided to converge on their position. They'd be surrounded from all directions in no more than 60 seconds.

So Cipher pulled a maneuver which might be one of her last. She turned northeast and prepared to engage with one of the four groups.

"AWACS, requesting clearance to engage."

"Galm Team, engage."

A couple of seconds passed. "We WILL survive, Galm 1."

Cipher smiled. "Roger that. Engage the enemy at will. Galm 1, engaging!"

"Galm 2, engaging!"

The two enemy planes coming at them head-on were F-4E Phantom IIs. Pixy took the left while Cipher took the right, and they each fired one Sidewinder. The two Phantoms attempted to dive for the deck, but the missiles were too fast for them. Cipher's hit the plane right on the refueling chamber, and Pixy's hit his target on the cockpit. Both aircraft exploded like fireworks.

"Nice shot, Cipher!"

"You too. Watch your left; we've got two Fishbeds."

"Roger that. Galm 2, Fox Two!"

Cipher flew in formation behind Pixy as the latter fired one Sidewinder to each of the Fishbeds. One of them exploded, but the other one managed to dodge it. "I've got it," Cipher radioed before hitting her afterburners to fire a volley from her machine guns. None of the bullets hit anything critical, but the Belkan immediately turned north and hit the afterburners.

"My plane's been hit hard. Preparing to disengage."

"They're still on the open channel," Cipher said. She was still using the encrypted Ustio Air Force channel. _Maybe I'll switch next time I'm at B7R... if I make it a second time._ "Pixy, let him go."

"I know, I know. I'm engaged with two more Phantoms, help me out here."

"Let's see what those planes are made of," a Belkan radioed.

Cipher switched to AMRAAMs and tried to position herself to where she could lock on to both of the F-4Es at the same time. Pixy was being an ass, but she finally got a solid lock. "Fox One, Fox One!" Both of the missiles hit their targets, but the planes didn't blow up.

"All damaged planes disengage and return to base."

Only one group was left, and they were two more Fishbeds. Cipher switched back to Sidewinders, but she and Pixy attempted unsuccessfully to take on their respective targets with just one missile. Pixy opted for a gun kill while Cipher was getting incredibly bored and just pushed on with a second missile. Eventually, both of the planes were falling through the air.

"Galm Team. Penetrate B7R airspace."

Cipher and Pixy went back into formation and continued to fly in a northwest direction as they were earlier.

"Galm 1 to Galm 2. Did those guys seem like pushovers to you, or was it just me?"

"Nah, something's definitely odd. Maybe Belka didn't figure that anything big would happen?"

Cipher instinctively shrugged, but realized that Pixy wasn't looking at her through his cockpit so he couldn't see. "I don't know."

Pixy cleared his throat. "Cipher, we'll fly into the Round Table. Proceed with caution."  
Just then, Eagle Eye decided to make matters a bit worse. "Warning! Radar shows additional craft approaching Area B7R at high speed."

"Galm 2 to Galm 1. Enemy reinforcements. Probably the main force."

"Indigo 1 to all units. Target spotted. Commencing attack."

_INDIGO?!_ Cipher groaned to herself. She's heard of these guys. They were new, but they were very fast to make a name for themselves. Supposedly they had assisted in the capture of both Fato and Gebet within a couple of days. Now Cipher was scared. Really scared.

"Galm Team, we cannot authorize a retreat. Intercept them."

Cipher thought she was shaking even more, but she quickly realized that it was her cockpit reacting to the sudden burst of afterburner from Pixy's engines. "I figured you'd say that," he radioed. "This is gonna cost you extra. Let's go, Cipher!"

The pilot took a couple of deep breaths, then radioed, "Roger, let's go!"

The two mercenaries broke formation and approached Indigo's formation from two different angles, Pixy from the southwest and Cipher from the southeast. Thankfully, Indigo decided to split up to where it became a 2 on 1 for both of the mercs. More bearable than a 4 on 1. Cipher tried hitting both of her targets with AMRAAMs, but they both missed and the aircraft – apparently, Gripens - flew over her Eagle.

"Unlike you mercenaries, I fight for a real cause," radioed the same voice who called himself Indigo 1. "The ones who survive are those who fight for their convictions."

"This is the Round Table," Pixy responded on the open channel. "Dead men's words hold no meaning."

Cipher didn't feel her hands reaching to change the channel, nor did she sense her vocal cords speaking, "You don't seem any different from the eight pilots who we just kicked out of here."

"Looks like we've got some Gripens to deal with."

"You don't say, Pixy?"

"Fox Two!" Pixy shouted in response. Cipher spotted his takedown of one of the Indigos.

"Ustio is holding their own in the Round Table," Indigo 1 radioed.

Cipher pointed her plane upward and hit the engines, deciding to make use of altitude differences to confuse the pilots. Only one Gripen was on her tail. She quickly flipped her aircraft around (groaning loud into her cockpit in response to the intense G-forces), and fired at the pursuing aircraft with two Sidewinders. He didn't have enough time to react and exploded right behind Cipher, but she did see that the pilot had parachuted out before the plane got to him first.

"Damn Ustios!" said the pilot into his emergency radio. "They're faster than I thought!"

"Don't let the Round Table's antics get to you. It's nothing to panic about," Indigo 1 preached. Cipher instantly got a missile warning in her HUD. "Missile launched."

"Cipher, break right!"

She did just that and narrowly dodged it.

"Now things are nice and even. Cipher, one for you and one for me."

Cipher and one of the Indigos started in a game of cat-and-mouse. They were flying in the same direction for a couple of minutes, firing a missile as each of them received a lock-on, but the missile would always be at the wrong angle. Cipher decided to take a risk and turn the other direction, and as the Gripen came into view, fired her machine guns once more. The pilot ejected before Cipher was even halfway done shredding his aircraft.

"Enemy confirmed down," Pixy said as he was in his own small dogfight. "Apparently that was their captain."

"Those mercenaries are crazy!" shouted the last Indigo before Pixy ripped into his aircraft with a Sidewinder of his own.

"All Belkan reinforcements confirmed down," Eagle Eye said. "Mission complete. Return to base."

Cipher activated the autopilot, took off her helmet and wiped her forehead free of all of the sweat that was piling up, taking really deep breaths. She hadn't noticed she was holding in her breath a lot during the engagement.

"Incoming message from Allied Forces Operations Command. 'Allied naval force has begun its advance. We appreciate your work.'"

_...wait, what?!_

"Looks like we were just a couple of decoys," Pixy said in an angered voice. Cipher huffed. They were better than decoys. Couldn't they at least know about what the hell they were getting into, and what for? Was that too much to ask?

"Yo, Buddy. You still alive?"

Cipher took her helmet off her lap and put it back on, feeling the cold sweat that was still on the helmet make contact with her forehead. "Yeah, I'm here. Let's get back to base."

* * *

"It seems B7R is more heavily guarded than we thought."

"You THINK?!" Pixy shouted. "We had to take on twelve pilots on our own. Four of them were an elite squadron!"

"Pixy, calm down," the debriefing officer said sternly. Pixy groaned and stepped away from him. "Look, if it wasn't for you, this ploy of ours probably would have failed. Keep up the good work, you two." The man turned around and walked back down the hall. Pixy and Cipher turned the other way and walked towards their rooms.

"Was I the only one who really hated that mission?" Pixy asked.

"No," Cipher simply responded.

Pixy looked over to her. "Whoa, Buddy, you okay?"

"Just feeling lightheaded... it's great that we're getting our wings tomorrow, but that was just so damn stressful."

"Yeah, I'm not feeling too happy about those wings right now, either. Although I can't wait to shove them in Darryl's face."

Cipher chuckled. "Hey... apologies for the whole gun-to-your-face thing a few weeks ago. You're not that bad of a wingman."

Pixy stopped and chuckled as he leaned on the wall. "Is that a compliment, flight lead?"

She stopped as well and turned to look at him, eyebrows raised. "Don't push your luck."

Pixy smirked and extended his hand. "Larry Foulke. Pleasure to be your Number Two."

Cipher accepted. "Louise Grenze. Not sure if the pleasure's all mine yet, but we'll see. Definitely comfortable, at the least, after today."

Another smirk. "I'll take what I can get."


	3. Chapter 3

_*ACHOO!*_

You know, history textbooks will always talk about how soldiers on the battlefield got horrendous diseases, and about how those diseases spread like wildfire in the close quarters that soldiers had to fight in.

But they'll never tell you about the pilots. These guys spend just as much time with each other as their on-foot counterparts do, and they aren't given the same quality of treatment, so God forbid that someone came back from their hometown with some strange flu or someone else contracted something while being rescued.

In this case, it was out of nowhere. Cipher sneezed, for probably the 50th time, and was starting to get sick of it. Figuratively and literally. This cold came out of nowhere the day after that engagement at B7R. Naturally, the pilot would have put the blame on her over-exuberant wingman, but Pixy was perfectly healthy for the past couple of weeks.

It was four days since Galm Team shot down the Indigo Squadron and their advance team, all by themselves, at the Round Table of all places. And the last thing Cipher wanted to hear, after being used as a decoy for the Allied fleet's advance and in the middle of some crazy flu, was another call to arms while she was "relaxing" in the mess hall. She groaned and laid her head onto the table while everyone else stood up.

"Cipher, this includes you," the briefing officer said from the doorway as the other mercs filed past him. "Head Operations has deemed you flight-worthy, so you're assigned for this mission as well."

"Just don't ask me to go back to the Round Table anytime soon," Cipher said as she stood up as well, venom still in her voice.

"Me neither, for that matter," Pixy said, trailing behind her as they left the hall.

"No worries," the briefing officer responded. He walked alongside the two pilots as they made their way to the briefing room. "This may be a tough mission, but all of you are more than capable, and it's not on B7R's level of 'tough'."

"Thank the Razgriz," Cipher said before she sneezed again.

* * *

"The Ustio and Osean coalition forces are to launch a joint campaign. The collective strategic military force of the two armies will be referred to as the Allied Forces. The campaign will be called Offensive Campaign No. 4101."

"Wait, haven't they been called the Allied Forces up until now anyway?" Mac asked. The other mercenaries nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but the official paperwork just went through the other day, so from now on we're going to see some real support from Osea."

"Finally those damn Oseans can carry some of their own weight," Darryl said, smirking. Pixy playfully punched his shoulder and the room burst into temporary laughter.

"Alright, alright," the briefing officer said after chuckling himself, "settle down. Now, the objective of 4101 is to secure a sea transit lane for the Allied Forces, so we can get some of that Osean help you guys seem so desperate to have." Some more laughter between the mercs. "To secure this channel, the Belkan forces occupying the Futuro Canal must be cleared out."

"Futuro?" Pixy asked, taking his eyes off of Cipher for the moment. "Isn't that a really large canal? How are we supposed to take on the entire place?"

"Not to worry. You will be given a choice of missions in this joint operation. Offensive Campaign No. 4101 will be comprised of the following three air missions.

"First, there is Operation Gelnikos. This is an air-to-air/surface operation, whose objective is to wipe out Belka's air squadron, port facilities and surface weapons.

"Next is Operation Round Hammer. This is an air-to-surface operation, whose objective is to wipe out the Belkan fleet, its port facilities and surface weapons.

"And the last mission is called Operation Costner. This is an escort mission whose objective is to protect the naval vessels in Osea's 3rd Fleet, including its state-of-the-art aircraft carrier, which will be making a trial voyage."

*achoo* "The _Kestrel_?" Cipher asked, recalling some of the news reports she had caught in the past couple of months concerning the construction of a state-of-the-art carrier.

"Good guess. The Oseans are hoping that if the _Kestrel_ succeeds in this operation, they'll put it into full service and we'll have a squadron of navy pilots to assist in some of the upcoming air operations."

Cipher knew that the _Kestrel_ was supposed to be the greatest aircraft carrier made in the history of naval fleets. It supposedly had a powerful anti-air barrage system, and could act as a command post for a very large fleet spread thousands of miles apart. Essentially, it would be the support net to crush any other fleet in any battle.

"Fierce resistance by Belkan forces is expected in all 3 missions. Choose carefully which one you wish to participate in. That is all."

Everyone started to chat amongst themselves, except for Cipher who no one really wanted to stay too close to (except for Pixy, but he was also in the others' huddle), discussing the missions they wanted to separate into. After a couple of more sneezes, Pixy came over to her, a defeated look on his face.

"Aww, did the weetle ace get the short straw again?"

Pixy sat down next to her and flipped her off. "We got Costner."

Cipher couldn't help but smile. "Well, hopefully the _Kestrel_ does have some good AA, maybe we won't need to do everything."

"Yeah, maybe. Or maybe they'll just be typical Oseans and leave everything to us."

* * *

It was a sight to behold. When Operation Gelnikos began at 1140 hours local time, five Allied Forces squadrons (one Ustian and four Osean) did a number on the Belkan squadrons and port facilities. The Belkan pilots were all shot down within ten minutes, and the facilities were halfway damaged. The Ustian squadron returned to base while the Osean squadrons remained for another couple of minutes before retreating to the Allied Fleet far to the south.

At noon, one Osean squadron and two squadrons of mercenaries ran in to clean up the remaining port facilities, as well as to engage the Belkan defense fleet that was coming in from the north. All of the AA defenses were destroyed by the time the Allied fleet slowly approached the southern entrance of the canal, but the Belkan fleet wasn't completely out yet.

Cipher and Pixy approached the Allied fleet by 1220. They were flying solo until the Osean squadrons that took part in Gelnikos took off from the _Kestrel_after refueling.

"Galm 2 to AWACS. Why haven't the Belkan ships been completely wiped off the map yet?"  
"Eagle Eye to all units. Four Belkan ships still remain in the northern exit of the canal. Be cautious, and cover the Allied Fleet so they can pass safely through the canal. No mistakes!"

"This is Captain Weeker on the _Kestrel_. All personnel, listen up. But keep working. Our flyboys have secured air superiority. Now all we've gotta do is advance and break through to the end!"

"So he says," Cipher muttered under her breath while she watched the Osean pilots take off one-by-one. "How much do you wanna bet, Pixy, that we've got a large armada of Belkans just coming right at—"

"Blips on radar! Multiple enemy craft entering our airspace!"

"You were saying, Cipher?" Cipher could hear the smirk Pixy was probably wearing at that moment. "Guess they really don't want us to get through. Let's go."

"Roger. Stay with me, we'll get the blips to the west. Oseans, take the eastern formations."

"Whoa whoa whoa, who died and made you in charge, mercenaries? This is Osean airspace."

"This is _Allied_ airspace," Cipher retorted, "and we made it here before you took off."

"Eagle Eye to Echo Squadron. Galm 1's got a good plan; take her lead."

Cipher smiled while Echo 1 simply replied with a "Roger" before turning to the east and engaging the F-16s approaching.

"We've got Kaizens on our side, flight lead. Ready?"

"Yep, Galm 1 engaging! Pixy, take the ones on our right, I've got the guy to the left."

"Roger, Galm 2 engaging!"

The F-1 Kaizens zoomed past the mercenaries, who turned their planes around sharply. Cipher fired two missiles at her contact while Pixy fired a missile at each of them. All of them made hits, and all planes were going down.

"Done yet?" called out a member of Echo Squadron. They had shot down their set of Falcons as well.

"Try to catch up," Pixy responded. "More radar blips."

"Hey, Echoes, those are the two planes that came back from the Round Table. Let's watch how they operate."

"Oh, shove off, Jewels. They're arrogant mercenaries, nothing more."

Cipher and Pixy didn't bother to keep up the conversation while members of the Echo and Jewel Squadrons went at each other. Two more flights of F-1s were approaching the carrier group. Cipher glanced at the fleet while situated behind one of the flights, and was relieved to see all of the AA defenses were still up and none of the ships had been lost yet.

"If that aircraft carrier is sunk, it's all over," Pixy remarked.

One of the F-1s had managed to gain speed and got close to the fleet. But the _Kestrel_'s AA cannons ripped through the plane like it was paper.

"Wow," Cipher muttered in awe.

"Buddy, they've got a lock on you, break!"

"Huh?!" Cipher panicked for a second before breaking left as an F-1 behind her launched a missile. It was far off thanks to her reaction, but a couple more seconds and her wing could have been blown off. "Thanks, Pixy."

Pixy didn't respond; he was entangled in a dogfight with another Kaizen. Cipher swerved her plane to avoid the AA cannons as they targeted another two F-1s, cleaning up the rest of the planes that had approached from the west. She looked at her radar, and, not including Pixy's Kaizen, all of the Belkans were either shot down or retreating.

"Splash one!" Pixy announced.

"No Belkans remaining in the operation airspace," Eagle Eye confirmed.

"This is Commander Weeker on the _Kestrel_. My fleet has managed to pass through the canal." Sounds of cheering could be heard over the radio from the Osean squadrons. "No major damage here. Things couldn't have been much better and it's all thanks to air support!"

"Heh, as usual, little to no recognition for us."

"I suppose that's par for the course, then?" Cipher asked on a private channel with Pixy.

"Pretty much. I get the occasional 'oh it's the red wing guy' but most of the time we get ignored."

"That really sucks."

"Well, what can you do? We're not all high and mighty like these Oseans. Guess we gotta earn that recognition somehow."

Cipher set her heading for 180 and prepared for the long haul home. She sat back in her seat, rolling Pixy's words around in her head. Were mercenaries really treated like this? Echo and Jewel Squadrons had almost-hatred in their voices – Echo more so, but still. Cipher just wanted to send the Belkans back home. She didn't want money or power... but these reactions, as Pixy confirmed for her, must come with the territory.

"Yo Buddy, you still alive?"

"Yep."

"You know, I noticed you didn't sneeze or cough at all during this engagement. Maybe a small battle was all you needed."

*achoo*

"Or maybe not."


	4. Chapter 4

*knock knock knock*

"ngh go away"

*knock knock knock*

"five more minutes"

*slam slam slam*

Louise groaned as obnoxiously loud as she could. "Who the hell is it," she said, not even bothering to give her voice a different tone to indicate the question mark at the end.

"You-Know-Who."

She could see that damn smirk on his damn face. "What do you want."

"Get up, we've got an operation."

"This damn early?"

"We're getting paid, aren't we?"

A loud sigh, followed by a groan, escaped the pilot as she slid off the bed and stood up slowly. She knew a day like this would come when she would have to do an early-morning operation – it's why she always went to bed in her flight suit, uncomfortable as it was – but why did they have to exist in the first place?

Ugh. She'd need some coffee.

* * *

"Cipher, up here."

"Huh—oh." Louise slowly raised her head to look at her wingmate. He seemed awake as ever. "How the hell are you wide awake? I can barely pick my head up."

Foulke shrugged. "It's in my blood, I guess. Always alert at any moment's notice, never know when something's gonna come up behind you."

Louise tilted her head. "'In my blood?' What, is your entire family comprised of morning people?"

"It's less my family and more my..." He looked around, apparently to make sure that no one was nearby. "...nationality."

"Nationality?"

He leaned backwards, almost tilting the chair. "I'm a Belkan."

Louise spit out some of her coffee. "WHAT?!"

"Before you go all point-a-pistol-at-me again, I'm trying to keep that a secret. I've managed to wipe it from most, if not all, official records of me. To most people, I cropped up out of nowhere and have no family. To the government, I'm from Ustio."

"And you have no problem engaging your own countrymen? That's borderline treason!"

Foulke scoffed. "Borderline... look, I don't care. I left the country a long time ago, when I was younger. This... 'war' of theirs? It's only cementing my belief that I made a good choice in leaving."

Louise looked down at her toast and coffee. She didn't have much of a response to that. He was right, of course – Belka was not helping their public image like this – but was she going to agree with him on something? She'd much rather open fire on him.

She sighed and decided to drop the topic. She looked at her watch. 4:38 AM. "What time do we sortie?"

"Top of the hour."

She raised her head to look at him. Foulke was staring out the windows to her right. She looked as well, but nothing was there. _Probably staring into space_, she thought. "Hey—"

"It's alright, Buddy. I just... I don't talk about myself much."

* * *

"Good to see you two are alive and well." Their briefing officer nodded at the two pilots as they entered the room by themselves.

"Barely," Louise muttered.

"Are we the only ones in this engagement?" Foulke asked, looking around. "I swear, if this is another B7R engagement—"

"No no, nothing like that," the briefing officer responded, waving his arms to dismiss the very notion. "You are flying on your own, but it's a direct support operation—" He turned towards the monitor as the pilots took their seats. "—right here. This mountain town of Solis Ortus is located directly outside of Directus. The Allied Forces are going to deploy airborne troops, comprised primarily of Osea's 101st Airborne Division, over Solis Ortus in a surprise air and ground attack on the Belkan forces." He turned back to them. "This operation will play a critical role in Ustio's liberation."

Louise was wide awake now. The plan was obvious – Osea's troops would gain a foothold on the territory, and from there it's a straight shot to the capital. This could be one of the fastest ground operations aimed at liberating a country ever accomplished.

"Your mission," the briefing officer continued, "is to provide support for the airborne troops. Destroy Belka's surface-to-air defense network and all interceptor aircraft, securing a safe drop zone for the airborne troops."

"Seems simple enough," Foulke said, standing up.

"Not just yet," the briefing officer said, forcing Foulke to groan and sit back down. "The Belkans do have a trick up their sleeve... there are still civilians inside Solis Ortus, so they've disguised some of their buildings as civilian buildings. Your radars will tell the difference, so I strongly advise you to use radar guidance rather than sights or carpet bombing. If you'd rather do the latter... well, your actions will determine the fate of the civilians."

Foulke and Louise shared a glance. They could both tell what the other was thinking – Louise wanted to spare them, Foulke wouldn't care either way and is going to follow her command.

* * *

Within half an hour, both pilots had arrived outside of Solis Ortus airspace. Their long-range radars indicated heavy AA guns and SAMs, as well as flights of Belkan pilots.

"Think they're on to us?" Foulke asked.

"Galm 1, negative. The bandits are in a patrol pattern... if they know we're coming, they don't seem to know from which direction."

"Galm 2, roger. 20 miles from rendezvous point. Allied transport plane, do you see us?"

"Escort units, this is the 122nd Airborne, roger that. We're now entering the designated airspace. We can't return to base until we empty this transport. We're counting on you."  
"Galm 2 to 122nd Airborne. What happened to the 101st?"

"Fell asleep, the lucky bastards. They get to sit this one out."

"I'd have loved to stay in bed, myself," Louise said. "But... looks like we get to play with the Belkans today. Pixy, you go low and attack the ground emplacements hindering our allies. I'll go for the bandits."

"Roger. 5 miles from rendezvous."

Louise stole a glance to the east. Even though the days were starting to get longer after the winter, the sun still hadn't risen all the way.

A radio transmission was coming in from an airborne transport. "GET YOUR ASSES INTO GEAR, PEOPLE! You've gotta jump, or you're of NO value to this unit! Anyone showing weakness WILL be left behind!"

"Holy crap, who is that?"

"No idea," Foulke responded, "but whoever he is... I like him!"

"Use that anger to get fired up and take 'em out! Understood? GO GET 'EM!"

A long line of paratroopers started to fall from the transport plane immediately in front of the two mercenaries.

"Go, go, go!"

"We're the best! We're the best!"

"Move! Move! Move! Don't stop to think, just keep moving!"

Louise noticed her wingmate flying down to start his run on the Belkan ground troops. "They're a brave bunch of soldiers, I'll give them that."

She chuckled. "Galm 1, roger."

Suddenly, the warning lights flashed red in her cockpit. "Holy – missile warning, breaking!" She flipped her plane towards the left, praying in her mind that it wouldn't hit... and she felt the vibrations as the missile flew past the belly of her aircraft, probably by a hair. "Geez... where did that come from?" She switched her radar to short-range and spotted two blips behind her. "When did they get there? Galm 1, engaging!"

Louise turned the plane around, prompting the other pilots to do the same. She could see immediately that this was going to turn into a cat-and-mouse game... so she did something a little more nonsensical. She dropped her altitude and went for the second camp of Belkan ground troops. As she got closer, she noticed that the Belkan pilots did, in fact, stay at their high altitude to stay away from friendly AA fire.

Louise slowed her aircraft down and made a sharp angle change, now pointing her nose at the belly of both aircraft. Switching targets and firing in quick succession, she called out "Fox Two, Fox Two!" and landed a hit on both aircraft, which turned into large fireballs in the sky that was still waking up. "Woohoo, splash two!"

"A little overkill, don't ya think, Cipher?"

"If Ustio wants me to wake up at 5 AM, they'd better expect this kind of stuff from sleep-deprived me."

"Haha, not complaining over here!"

"Allied pilots, this is the 101st Airborne. Sorry for taking so long."

"Goooooood morning, John! Where ya been?"

"Oh no... David, they got _you_ to fill in for the first drop?"

"I hate to break up the party, Oseans," Foulke radioed, "but it looks like the Belkans are retreating."

Louise switched her radar to long-range, and, sure enough, all of the remaining Belkans were in full retreat to the northeast.

"What the hell are they running for?"

Then Louise realized it. Solis Ortus didn't matter to them – this was just a stepping stone. Now that a second transport was on the way, there was no point in keeping this city safe when they could keep the real prize even safer. "Galm 1 to all Allied units. The Belkans are retreating, likely to bolster their defenses at Directus. Galm 2 and I will continue to fly escort until 0530 in case they try anything, after which I'm going back to bed. Deal?"


End file.
